US pours USD 34.3bn in renewable energy projects over 5 yrs

Nov 18, 2014 - The US government has issued USD 30.3 billion (EUR 24.3bn) of loans and loan guarantees for renewables projects between 2009 and end-September 2014, and it has also made USD 3.96 billion in conditional commitments.

Statistics by the Department of Energy (DOE) show that at present there are 20 government-backed renewable energy plants operational and generating revenue. Their construction has been supported by the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), which was launched in 2009. Those plants are currently producing enough power to meet the demand of over one million US households.

So far, the DOE has disbursed USD 21.7 billion and gathered USD 3.5 billion in repayments, as well as more than USD 810 million in interest payments. Meanwhile, the government has encountered less than USD 780 million in loan losses, which equals about 2.28% of the programme’s total loans, loan guarantees, and conditional commitments.

The DOE estimates that, based upon the amount disbursed to date, it will get over USD 5 billion in interest payments from project borrowers.

The LPO scheme was introduced to back green technology ventures that are somewaht too risky and expensive to get cash from private investors. It has opened or saved 55,000 jobs since 2009, the DOE noted.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.800)

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